Kingdom of Washingtonia (SWM)
The Kingdom of Washingtonia (Washingtonia or incorrectly referred to as Washington) is an island nation in the North Atlantic consisting of two major islands, North Island and South Island, which are also provinces onto themselves. There are a further eight smaller islands scattered around the two main islands. North Island is physically larger however has a smaller population (2,117,928) than the physically smaller South Island (4,672,195). Washingtonia, previously known as Beauchemin, was a French colony between its first settlement on 9 October 1532 and the Friendship Agreement of 22 February 1791 when the colony was handed over to George Washington and his followers following his exile from the United States. After taking over the colony, Washington proclaimed himself King of Washingtonia and the Washington dynasty has ruled ever since. The Kingdom is both a constitutional monarchy and a presidential republic, where the King serves both a ceremonial and executive role as head of state, and the President is the popularly elected head of government. The Washingtonian Civil War of 1899-1910 was a notable event in Washingtonian political history as it gave rise to the nation's first democratically elected representative body, the Grand Washingtonian Assembly, under its first Constitution. The Grand Assembly is a unicameral legislature wherein its assemblymen are democratically elected at the same time as the President, every five years. Foundersville, North Island is the nation's capital and has held that status since the Kingdom's founding. It was known as Singing prior to 1891. It is the nation's second largest city by population, second to Dandridge, South Island. The current King of Washingtonia is Randall I, succeeding his father, George IV. President Travis O'Neill has been the head of government since his inauguration on 1 June 2011. The Union Nationalist Party has dominated Washingtonian politics in general and the Grand Assembly in particular, and currently holds 57.3% of the seats, with the Christian Libertarian Party forming the opposition at 29.6% of the seats. Etymology Before the Friendship Agreement of 1791, the island group was known as Beauchemin, named for the French founder of the islands, Grégoire Beauchemin. After the Agreement, George Washington immediately proclaimed himself King and within the first month of his reign changed the name to "the Kingdom to Washingtonia", after himself, with the Kingdom Decree. Washington is originally a habitational surname from the Old English place name "settlement of (a person named) Wassa". History Pre-settlement French settlement (1532-1790) Arrival of Washington and the Friendship Agreement (1790) Main article: Exile of George Washington Washingtonian oppression (1791-1799) Benevolent rule of George II and III (1799-1865) Reign of John I (1869-1899) Civil War (1899-1910) Main article: Washingtonian Civil War Constitutional dispensation (1910-1914) Main article: Constitution of the Kingdom of Washingtonia First World War (1914-1918) Interwar and constitutional consolidation period (1918-1939) Second World War (1939-1945) With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 with the Axis invasion of Poland, Washingtonia was quick to declare its absolute neutrality, citing the lack of funds and military strength in the wake of the Great War. The war, however, came to Washingtonia in November 1939 when a German U-boat sunk the British passenger liner SS Alba while in port in Foundersville. The Alba was carrying over 300 Washingtonian citizens en route to Montreal. The Germans immediately stated the attack was legitimate as the Alba was ferrying Washingtonian soldiers back to Britain. King Brandon I announced the day after the sinking that Washingtonia will be providing logistical support to the Allies, and rented a rural airfield in the northeast to the British. The Port of Dandridge was also made available to repair and act as a staging point for Allied warships. In May of 1940, Brandon I further announced that he was pledging a full three quarters of the Armed Forces to the French to fight off the newly-launched German invasion. This was met with widespread opposition as most of the troops had returned from France during the Great War recently, and that Washingtonia was not ready to engage actively in war again. Nevertheless, the troops were shipped to France under British escort and only helped fend off the Germans on a temporary basis. France fell in June of the same year, with over half the Washingtonian deployment dead. What remained disappeared with loyalist French troops into the underground and engaged in guerrilla warfare until the end of the war. The , however, was massively detrimental to the Washingtonian economy, essentially halting any exports or imports. No shipping could enter or leave a Washingtonian port without heavy escort, which were only available at certain times. The Washingtonian Navy at the time was heavily inadequate for the job, thus the British were exclusively relied upon until the United States later entered the war. Being highly dependent on foreign food imports for its comparably high population, Washingtonia almost experienced a famine during the winter of 1942. Attacks in Washingtonian ports by German U-boats continued until the end of the war. Constitutional crisis (1946) Main article: Constitutional Crisis of 1946 Cold War (1947-1991) Recent history (1991-present) Geography Politics Main article: Government and politics of the Kingdom of Washingtonia Law and justice Main article: Law of Washingtonia Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Washingtonia France Franco-Washingtonian relations have been extremely close since the signage of the Friendship Agreement. Some modern authors describe Washingtonia and France as "interdependent on one another socially, culturally and politically" for this close relationship. Although Washingtonia is almost 100% English linguistically, France has had a significant influence on its culture. During the Civil War, France pledged over 2,000 troops in support of the Monarchy and it is widely accepted that the war would have been lost without French support, at least on an international diplomatic level. During the Second World War, Washingtonia sent more than three quarters of its total military strength to help secure France from invasion. Although Germany did manage to conquer France, the deployed Washingtonian troops continued to assist the French underground and British (and later American) forces in pushing the Nazis from the country. King Brandon I however lost most of his popularity for what has been described as "a stunt pulled to save face with the French at the expense of over 10,000 Washingtonian troops." More recently, France and Washingtonia continue to be huge trade partners. The Trination Trade Treaty (TTT) between Morocco, France and Washingtonia is a good example of the close trade connection between Washingtonia, France and other former French colonies. Demographically, Franco-Washingtonians make up one of the largest descendant groups in Washingtonia, accounting for 44% of the population. United States United Kingdom International organizations The Kingdom of Washingtonia is an active participant and member of the United Nations and moreover the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Washingtonia takes a relatively non-interventionist stance on world issues, however has deployed several thousand peacekeeping troops under UN mandate to African countries such as Somalia and Sierra Leone. More recently, the Washingtonian Armed Forces were actively involved with the French intervention in Mali, providing much logistical support and around 500 troops on the ground. Military Main article: Washingtonian Armed Forces The King's Loyal Washingtonian Armed Forces (also simply referred to as the Washingtonian Armed Forces, KLWAF) is the military of the Kingdom, consisting of the Washingtonian Army (WAR), the Washingtonian Air Force (WAF) and the Washingtonian Navy (WNV). Each service branch is run relatively independent from the other, each with its own Commanding General and headquarters. The Ministry of Defense with the Minister of Defense as its head is the civilian administrative body of the military, although the powers between the civilian and military counterparts are relatively balanced. The WAF is of a moderate size for an island nation such as Washingtonia, having just over 15,000 active troops dispersed across all the service branches: Army - 9,500, Air Force - 2,500, Navy - 3,000. There are, however, more than 60,000 reserves who assemble and train every three years for a week, at the Triennial Reserve Mobilization Event (TRME). The military seldom sees conflict and is thus mostly deployed in peacekeeping missions especially in Africa. Administrative and political divisions In the Kingdom of Washingtonia, a distinction is drawn between administrative and political divisions. Administrative divisions constitute territories which have leadership structures which administer the daily affairs of state, whereas political divisions exist mostly for political and non administrative reasons. The Kingdom's top level administrative division is the province, of which the Kingdom currently has two, namely the Province of South Island and the Province of North Island. Each province is led by an executive Provincial Secretary who is elected by and from the provincial legislature of the respective province. Despite this political power of the provincial legislature, the entirety of the provincial government is answerable to the national government, which can dissolve the provincial government at any time. The Provincial Secretary appoints a provincial council which assists him in his administration of the province. Below the province is the district. There is a distinction between an ordinary district, which is usually mostly rural, and a metropolitan district, which usually exists around a major urban city. There are nine ordinary districts in North Island and one metropolitan district (Foundersville). South Island has seven ordinary districts and one metropolitan district (Dandridge). Like provinces are accountable to national government, are districts accountable to provincial government. Ordinary districts are administered by a provincially appointed district councilor, and metropolitan districts are administered by popularly elected metropolitan (city) councils. A city council must from its own ranks elect a city manager (CM), who administers the district on a day to day basis. The lowest level of administrative division in Washingtonia comes in the form of the locality. Localities are found within districts however are also accountable to provincial government. There is no general distinction between localities other than that the localities of Foundersville and Dandridge are also metropolitan districts, therefore do not conform to the general characteristics of other localities. A locality is administrated by a general commissioner, who is appointed by the provincial government. In Foundersville and Dandridge, the city manager, who is popularly elected by the city council, acts as the locality's general commissioner. The political divisions of Washingtonia include the assembly districts, which are used to calculate the division of the Grand Assembly after each election. An assembly district is considered "controlled" by a certain party if that party received 50%+1 of the votes, or won a plurality of the votes. The entire district however does not go to that party because Washingtonia generally follows a system of party list proportional representation, rather than the first past the post system. Other political divisions include the provincial legislature and city council electoral districts. Here follows a list of the various administrative divisions of Washingtonia. Transportation Highway Railway Washingtonia has a sparse and small railway network due to the Kingdom being relatively small with few large cities. Rather, highways and ferry transport was much more common in the earlier years. Nowadays, Washingtonia has a modern high speed rail system in South Island, mainly leaving Dandridge for the various holiday destinations. North Island due to its much smaller population has a much less advanced system, although it is in the process of being upgraded. The Railway Commission (which was established along with the Kingdom's first railway in 1865) is the agency responsible for the national railway systems, under the Ministry of Finance, Infrastructure and Economic Development (Ficed); with the Railway Commissioner as its leader. Air transportation Water transportation Culture and demographics Language Religion Education Main article: Education in Washingtonia The education system of Washingtonia consists of three tiers, namely primary education (divided into 1st grade-8th grade), secondary education (divided into 9th grade-12th grade) and tertiary education (divided into undergraduate and graduate levels). Education is compulsory until the age of 18 (usually 12th grade) for males and until 14 (usually 8th grade) for females. The Ministry of Education and Science regulates primary and secondary education, including their curricula and standards. Most schools, however, are privately managed and owned. Tertiary education is usually received from universities or colleges, of which only the University of King George is owned and managed by the government. The literacy rate in Washingtonia was 99% in the 2013 census. Literacy is defined in Washingtonia as a person who is able to sufficiently do and understand primary level maths and write a two page, grammatically correct essay about their lives. Healthcare Media Sport See also *Outline of Washingtonia Category:Kingdom of Washingtonia Category:Nations Category:Countries Category:Countries on Earth Category:Country Category:Worlds Category:Regions